5/1/2017 ISLimiterOpenElectrical

ISLimiter
FromOpenElectrical

Contents
1 Introduction
2 Application
3 ParameterSettings
3.1 TriggerLevel
3.2 di/dt
4 References

Introduction
ISlimitersarefaultcurrentlimitingdevicesthatusechemical
chargesandcurrentlimitingfusestointerruptthefaultcurrent
withinthefirstquartertohalfcycle(i.e.beforethefirstpeak).

InatypicalISlimiterdesign,thedeviceiscomposedoftwo
currentpathsconnectedtogetherinparallelonepathisan
elementratedforthefullloadcurrent(whichcanhavehigh
continuouscurrentratings,e.g.3000A),andtheotherpath
providesthecurrentlimitingfunctionviaacurrentlimiting
fuse(whichtypicallyhasacontinuouscurrentratingof<300A
at15kV).

Intheeventofafault,thedeviceoperatesbyphysically Figure1.TypicalISlimiterdesign(imagecourtesy
destroyingthecontinuouscurrentpathusingoneormore of[1])
chemicalchargestriggeredbyanelectronicsensingand
controlunit.Thefaultcurrentisthusforcedthroughthecurrentlimitingfuse.

Application
ISlimitersareusedforfaultreductioninasystem,typicallytolimitthefaultcurrenttowithintheratedcapacityof
downstreamequipment.Thisisusuallynecessaryduetosystemoverexpansionorundersizingofequipmentfault
ratings.ByusingISlimiters,expensiveupgradesorreplacementofequipmentcanpotentiallybeavoided.

Anaturalquestiontoaskiswhycurrentlimitingfusescan'tjustbeusedinlieuofISlimiters?Theansweristhat
theycanbutwithinlimits.Currentlimitingfusestypicallyhavecontinuouscurrentratings<300A[1],soifthe
applicationcallsforcurrentslowerthanthat,thencurrentlimitingfusesbythemselvesarefine.Howeverinmany
applications,thefaultcurrentneedstobelimitedonabusbarwithhighercontinuousloadcurrents.Thisiswhere
ISlimitersorothertypesoffaultcurrentlimitingdevicesneedtobeused.

ISlimitersareofteninstalledatbusties/couplerstolimitthefaultcontributionfromoneormorebussections.
Thiscanallowtheinterconnectionofsystemsthatwouldnormallyhaveprospectiveshortcircuitcurrents
exceedingfaultratings.ISlimiterscanalsobeinstalledatbusincomerstolimittheupstreamfaultcontribution.
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ParameterSettings
ISlimiterstypicallyoperateusingacombinationoftwo
parameters:

Triggerlevel
di/dt

TriggerLevel

Thetriggerlevelisthecurrentmagnitudeatwhichthefault
currentlimiterwillinitiatethetransfertothecurrentlimiting
path(i.e.byactivatingthechemicalcharge).Thetriggerlevel
istypicallydefinedasthe"themaximumshortcircuit
contributionpermittedbyamajorpowersource,sothatthe
totaloverallfaultcurrentsuperimposedfromallshortcircuit
contributionswillnotexceedthemomentaryandinterrupting
ratingsoftheswitchgear"[2].

Thetriggerlevelissetusingtrialanderror,typicallybasedon
aninitialtrialvalueofthedifferencebetweentheswitchgear
instantaneousratingandthepeakinstantaneousfaultcurrent. Figure2.ISlimiterblockdiagram(courtesyof[1])
Whenselectingthetriggerlevel,otherconsiderationssuchas
transformerinrushcurrents,overcurrentprotection
coordinationandbreakeroperatingmarginsshouldalsobeexamined.

di/dt

Thedi/dtparameterisavaluedescribingtheminimumfaultcurrentrateofchange(inkA/s)atwhichthetransfer
willbeinitiated.Thisisusedtoavoidnuisancetrippingforasymmetricalfaultsthatmayhavehighpeakvalues
(abovethetriggerlevel),butrmsvalueswithintheratingsoftheswitchgear.Thetransfertothecurrentlimiting
pathwillonlybeinitiatedifthefaultcurrentexceedsboththetriggerlevelanddi/dtlimit.

Thedi/dtlimitcanbeapproximatedasfollows[2]:

dipeak
= IM
dt

Where isthesystemangularfrequency(radians/s)

IM isthepeaksymmetricalshortcircuitcurrent(A)

References
[1]Chao,T.,"ElectronicallyControlledCurrentLimitingFuses"(http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arn
umber=404830),1995,Proceedingsof1995IEEEAnnualPulpandPaperIndustryTechnologyConference,
Vancouver,Canada

[2]Wu,Al.,andYin,Y.,"FaultCurrentLimiterApplicationsinMediumAndHighVoltagePowerDistribution
Systems"(http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arnumber=658751),1998,IEEETransactionsonIndustry
Applications,Vol.34,No.1
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